Dutch authorities have banned boats from some of Amsterdam’s iconic canals in a move aimed at helping them freeze over so that residents can lace up their skates and glide over the frozen waterways.

Freezing temperatures gripping much of Europe are also hitting the Dutch capital, where people were last able to skate on the canals in 2012.

As well as banning boats, the local water authority said it is closing sluices and locks to help ice growth by slowing the movement of water.

Ducks take off from a pound on a cold winter’s day near the village of Druzhnyi, southeast of Minsk, Belarus (AP)

While there is not enough ice yet and the weather forecast suggests rising temperatures after the weekend, Alderman Udo Kock said: “We are doing everything we can to allow residents and visitors to hopefully be able to skate on the canals.”

In France, some migrants in the capital have been exposed to the Siberian cold front with little more than tents and sleeping bags.

In the makeshift camp set up along the banks of a canal that runs through north-east Paris, a group of largely Afghan migrants lit a small fire on to warm up their hands after a sleepless night which saw temperatures drop below minus 5C.